Rangers manager Alex McLeish hit back at Celtic striker Chris Sutton for claiming Dunfermline were happy to hand the Gers the title.

Rangers manager Alex McLeish hit back at Celtic striker Chris Sutton for claiming Dunfermline were happy to hand the Gers the title.

Rangers clinched their 50th title with a 6-1 Ibrox thrashing of the Pars, which was enough to pip Celtic - who had won 4-0 at Kilmarnock - on goal difference.

Sutton insisted pre-match claims that Dunfermline would "lie down" had been proved true and questioned the professionalism of Jimmy Calderwood and his players.

But McLeish was having none of it and reminded everyone that similar claims had been made after a heavy win for Celtic against Dunde.

He said: "You can say the same about Dundee and Celtic but I don't believe that. I don't believe for one minute that Jim Duffy was not a proud manager and I'm sure Jim was hurt by that.

"Dunfermline today were dangerous. How can you say that they lay down? I know Jimmy was angry at losing the way he did.

"No chance did they lie down today, no way. They played five in the midfield, one up front and there was a definite plan there to stop us scoring goals.

"If Celtic were playing at home today and we were travelling away to Kilmarnock then we would have expected Celtic, with the crowd behind them, to have scored goals. They have gone to Kilmarnock and won 4-0 so I have got to ask Chris - did Kilmarnock lie down?

"It has been a great fight and unfortunately in this great battle there had to be a loser."

Rangers had taken an early lead through Michael Mols but that was soon cancelled out by Jason Dair's strike. However, Claudio Caniggia, Shota Arveladze, Ronald de Boer, Steven Thompson and Mikel Arteta then sealed an emphatic win for Rangers - although there had been a point when Celtic were ahead in the title race on goal difference.

Indeed, the moment de Boer made it 4-1 Henrik Larsson hit a post at Rugby Park.

McLeish admitted fears that the title could swing out of his side's grasp had been very much in his mind.

He said: "I was aware - very aware - that Celtic were on top at one point.

"We did say to the players `we need to score'.

"We started the second half and had to be patient, start again and we finally got a breakthrough.

"We got a wee break after when Thompson managed to score. But with the season Celtic have had and the spirit they have showed I couldn't rule them out at that stage."

McLeish won many a medal as a player with Aberdeen and is one of Scotland's most-capped players but he confirmed that winning the championship as a manager beat all previous achievements.